Liverpool have Wirtz problem - and the perfect solution is emerging

Liverpool have found the perfect answer to Wirtz problem Make us your Google favourite Liverpool have persisted with Florian Wirtz for over a year now, but if the form of the German does not improve before the January transfer window, it’s time to cut the tie and instead back Morgan Gibbs-White to bring back the glory days to Anfield. The numbers for Liverpool are stark. When it comes to big chances created this season, Andoni Iraola’s side lie joint 17th in the Premier League table. Only newly promoted Coventry City and in-transition Aston Villa lie below the Reds. Consequently, Liverpool have scored only seven goals in five games, and though they remain undefeated, they have fallen six points behind early Premier League pace setters Manchester City. The Reds’ heritage emphasises exciting attacking play, and while Wirtz promised this when he arrived from Bayer Leverkusen a year ago, he has wholly failed to deliver on it. The 23-year-old has now played 55 times for Liverpool, yielding only five goals and 11 assists. “Wirtz simply must perform to the standard of a top-class Liverpool player. Last year he was afforded months to show up. This season he will probably be given only a few weeks,” former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher wrote in The media. So it has proven, with the German’s single assist to date insufficient to chase the critics from his back. But it’s not just the number of assists that Wirtz has (or rather hasn’t) provided; it’s the quality of chances he’s giving his team-mates. He has yet to create a single big chance for a colleague. By contrast, Dominik Szoboszlai has produced three. Clearly, something isn’t working and Liverpool’s incoming sporting director Julian Ward will have to carefully consider Wirtz’s future. And there is one particularly attractive option out there in the form of Gibbs-White. Gibbs-White proving to be the chance-creation machine that Wirtz isn’t Nottingham Forest ’s Gibbs-White may have been overlooked by Thomas Tuchel for England’s World Cup squad in the summer, but he spent the window courted by the Premier League’s leading clubs and is still a figure very much in the shop window. Indeed, Gibbs-White appears more attractive than ever, having raced to five big chances created already this season – joint top of the Premier League alongside Granit Xhaka with a figure that nearly equals Liverpool’s club total. The 26-year-old already has one goal and two assists in the top flight this season, further highlighting him as one to watch in future transfer windows. With Liverpool having been burned with Wirtz, their big investment from the Bundesliga, it would be little surprise in the Reds joining the growing trend of Premier League clubs raiding their rivals. Forest have long seen Gibbs-White as a player worth in excess of £100 million , with Manchester City told to stump up that fee when they enquired around 18 months ago. The likelihood is that figure will only have grown after the midfielder’s 15-goal contribution last term. Nevertheless, Liverpool will still be able to raise a healthy sum by selling Wirtz, so could we see the Reds finally lose faith in the German and instead back Gibbs-White in 2027? It looks a strong bet.